Interview

From Media Archaeology to Media Genealogy: An Interview with Erkki Huhtamo

Author:

Simon Ganahl

Universität Wien

Abstract

In this interview with Simon Ganahl, Erkki Huhtamo talks about his education and early works in Finland, the emergence of 'media archaeology' in the 1990s, and his focus on topoi in media history. By tracing these cultural patterns, Huhtamo actually switches from an archaeological to a genealogical approach. He emphasizes, however, that he is doing careful historical research — unlike Foucault as well as Friedrich Kittler and Jonathan Crary, who are, according to Huhtamo, "superimposing models from the present on the past and hence mistreating historical reality."